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Foundry sand core property assessment by 3-point bending test evaluation

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 Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Foundry sand core property assessment by 3-point bending test

evaluation
Bernhard J. Stauder a,∗ , Hubert Kerber b , Peter Schumacher c
a
Nemak Linz GmbH, A-4030 Linz, Zeppelinstraße 24, Austria
b
Austrian Foundry Research Institute—ÖGI, A-8700 Leoben, Parkstraße 21, Austria
c
Montanuniversität Leoben, Chair of Casting Research, A-8700 Leoben, Franz-Josef-Str. 18, Austria

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Improved understanding of foundry sand core properties is a key requirement for high precision cast-
Received 25 September 2015 ing process development. The present work demonstrates the potential to evaluate mechanical and
Received in revised form 1 June 2016 functional sand core properties using precisely acquired 3-point bending test load curve data applying
Accepted 4 June 2016
standard bending test geometries.
Four organic binder systems have been investigated. Further to bending strength and the elastic mod-
Keywords:
ulus, which can be directly derived from the load curves, a load curve pre-treatment to eliminate sample
Casting
settlement effects was applied for a corrected deflection and stiffness analysis. The consumed mechanical
Sand core testing
Load curve evaluation
work shows characteristic elastic and plastic work portions until fracture, which are specific for different
Work of fracture sand cores, respectively their condition. Dimensionless indicators to quantify core brittleness have been
Core deformation developed based on curve and on work parameters.
Quality control In general for mechanical evaluations of resin bonded sand cores, visco-plastic effects need to be con-
sidered, as for not fully hardened binder systems decreased strength, deflection and work of fracture
were observed at lower load speeds.
The benchmark results show that the load curve evaluation concept is a suitable tool to analyse foundry
sand core properties more sensitively.
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1.1. Foundry sand core technology and developments

Metal casting using sand cores allows to produce complex
components with internal geometries in high volumes, typical
examples are combustion engine cylinder heads and blocks. Fig. 1
shows a cylinder head casting from Al and the required sand cores
for the internal surfaces, while in Fig. 2 a preassembled sand core
package is shown prior to casting.
The influence of technology, materials and process parameters
on dimensional accuracy of near-net-shaped casting products has
been systematically compiled by Campbell (2000). The foundry
industry is forced to steadily improve process capabilities to facil-
itate light-weight, respectively thin walled castings, to contribute
to ever tightening emission legislation requirements (Lellig et al.,
2010). The importance of sand core technology development is
highlighted.
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: bernhard.stauder@nemak.com, bernhard.stauder@aon.at
(B.J. Stauder).
The development of new binder systems, such as chemically
bond sand cores was intensively characterized by Bindernagel
(1983). A comprehensive collection of sand and binder systems
was given by Flemming and Tilch (1993). Mechanical properties
of sand cores are mainly qualitatively described and no property
related material laws are proposed.
In automotive foundries the most widely applied core manu-
facturing processes are the organic Coldbox, Warmbox, and Hotbox
core production processes. Process descriptions are given by Langer
and Dunnavant (2011) and Brown (2010). Currently a substitution
process of organic by inorganic binders having less odour develop-
ment is ongoing. However, because of different properties, process
relationships for such new binder types require increased atten-
tion on the process control (Weissenbek et al., 2011). Recently
Czerwinski et al. (2015) reviewed the state of the art of foundry
core technology for several relevant organic and inorganic binder
systems used in various foundry applications.
Summarized, fundamental requirements into sand core proper-
ties are:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2016.06.010
0924-0136/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196 189

Fig. 1. Illustration of a medium complexity car cylinder head in cast Al and the required sand cores to shape its cavities (Sobczyk, 2008).

• Sufficient strength to allow handling and manipulation opera-

tions;
• High resistance against humidity during core storage.
• High erosion and penetration resistance and no chemical interac-
tion with the cast metal to deliver a good casting surface quality.
• Low gas evolution and high gas permeability to avoid casting
defects.
• High bending strength: bending is the most critical load type
for sand cores under casting conditions. It can be imposed by
clamping forces, thermal load, flow drag and buoyancy loads.
• Easy shake-out after casting to obtain sand-free cast parts.
• A good recycling ability of used foundry sand.
• Environmentally friendly core systems with low odour develop-
ment.

1.2. Research on sand cores under thermal load

Generally only little research on sand core behaviour under cast-
ing conditions can be found in the literature. Some examples of
foundry sand core investigations under realistic loading conditions
and the applied types of modelling data are given here.
The deformation of a complex cylinder head water-jacket core
has been studied by Dong et al. (2010). Their used material data
were based upon bending tests and upon validations using a cup
type core for casting trials. Critical regions in the casting due to
core bending could be predicted. Motoyama et al. (2013) inves-
tigated residual stresses of castings influenced by counter forces
from furanic moulds applying specifically developed in-situ mea-
surement of the transmitted loads. The material properties for
modelling were obtained by compressive tests.
Stachowicz et al. (2011) have described cohesive and adhe-
sive fracture mechanisms of inorganically bonded cores. Even sand
grain cracking was observed, but not below a thermal load of
1100 ◦ C. High temperature bending tests to describe the properties
of a novel starch binder for foundries were performed by Zhou et al.
(2009). They observed sand core damage through binder cracking
and delamination.
Fig. 2. Sand core package for an intricately shaped cylinder head prepared for cast-
ing by the Rotacast process (Gosch and Stika, 2005).
1.3. Testing of sand cores and other bonded granular materials
Testing methods for foundry sand cores and other relevant
material types with low plastic deformation will be discussed in
the following.
Within the foundry industry the standards of sand core testing
were established in the middle of the last century, as documented
by American Foundrymen’s Society – AFS – (Dietert, 1950). Bending
tests are the most widely applied quality control for foundry sand
cores, described by AFS (1962) and similarly by the German stan-
dard (VDG, 1999). In both, no load curve acquisition is required and
the beam deflection can be manually driven. The loading velocity is
not quantified, but should be constant and smoothly applied. The
bending strength is calculated from the maximum load based upon
linear elastic continuum mechanical relations.
To enable sand core deformation studies additional infor-
mation from load-deflection curves is required. (Kerber et al.,
2014) reviewed the conventional testing methods and standards

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Fig. 3. Tensile and compressive forces on particles during 3-point bending (Wolff et al., 2013).

Fig. 4. Sand grain morphology of the used H32 silica sand and the according sieve analysis.

Table 1
Used binder systems for the experiments and main hardening parameters.

Binder System Mixture ratios Hardening parameters

Coldbox (CB) Phenolic resin and isocyanate solution in 1:1 ratio. DMEA vapour gassing 15 s
Di-Methyl-Ethyl-Amine (DMEA)
Hotbox (HB) Phenol formaldehyde resin and aqueous ammonium nitrate solution in 5:1 ratio. Heated tool: 220 ◦ C/30 s
Warmbox type 1 (WB1) Furanic resin and aqueous phenol-sulfonic acid solution, its Al-salts and sulphuric acid Heated tool: 220 ◦ C/30 s
in 5.5:1 ratio.
Warmbox type 2 (WB2) Modified urea-furanic resin and aqueous phenol-sulfonic acid solution and its Al-salts Heated tool: 220 ◦ C/30 s
in 4:1 ratio.

for foundry sand cores. They demonstrated the improvement
potentials by applying modern testing technology with precise
load-displacement acquisition. A load velocity of 5 mm/min has
been determined to achieve comparable conditions to existing
bending test practice.
Ratke and Brück (2006) analysed load displacement curves
from bending and compression tests to investigate the influence of
granulometry and binder content on silica-Aerogel bond compos-
ites. Thole and Beckermann (2009) researched the deformation of
phenolic-urethane no-bake elf-setting cores applying three-point
bending test standards from metal testing. Elastic moduli close to
4 GPa in the as-produced samples and about 1 GPa after thermal
exposure were determined.
(Schacht, 2004; chap. Schacht&Hayes, Silica brick material
properties) described the load-displacement curve evaluation for
compression tests on refractory silica bricks. The relation between
the maximum slope tangent and the secant from zero to the max-
imum load point was presented as a suitable criteria to describe
plasticity. (Schacht, 2004; chap. Bradt, Fracture of Refractories)
pointed out the limitation of using linear continuum mechanics for
bonded granular materials when having plasticity. Improvements
were shown by Wolff et al. (2013), applying “Discrete Element
Method (DEM)” – simulations for a ceramic-polymer composite
material under different bending test conditions. For small loads
they have shown that visco-elastic effects could be neglected for
the used acrylic binder. Moreover, initial settling against the load
points are important and must be considered. They illustrated the
performance of DEM simulations to investigate bonded particle
compounds. A three-point bending DEM-setup is shown in Fig. 3.
Tarokh and Fakhimi (2014) compared measured and simulated
bending test curves of silt stones. A satisfyingly good agreement
was given identifying the initial deformation of the physical spec-
imen. The early portion of the curve was influenced by closure of
the space between the specimen and the loading platen and fur-
thermore a postulated closure of micro-cracks in the specimen.
Further to load curves, the introduced work into the sample can
be analysed also. Rice (1968) presented the “J-integral”-method
to describe crack tip plasticity. An adoption of that principle will

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Fig. 5. Foundry sand core sample at bending test. The three supports are line sup-
ports with a top radius of 3 mm according to the German Foundrymen’s Standards.
Fig. 6. Untreated high resolution stress – deflection curves. Core binder WB1 tested
after 4 h storage time.
be used in this work. The goal is to quantify the introduced work
from the testing machine and evaluate the elastic and plastic work
portions.
2. Experimental methods
2.1. Used materials
The sand used for all samples was silica sand “H32” accord-
ing to the technical datasheet (Quarzwerke, 2009), being a widely
used reference for binder testing purposes. Fig. 4 shows its grain
morphology and the grain size distribution.
Experiments are based upon one sand type and four different
organic binder additions ranging from 1.2–1.9 wt.%. Table 1 defines
the used binder systems and the hardening parameters, which are
similar to typical serial applications used for Al-castings.
2.2. Sample production
The sand-binder mixtures were prepared in 5 kg batches using
a laboratory stir mixer and then immediately used for core pro-
duction. A conventional 5 l core blowing machine (Roeper H5)
and a core box for three test bars per shot according to (VDG,
1974) were used. The effectively obtained test bar dimensions were
22,7 × 22,7 × 180 mm3 . The samples were stored and tested in in
standard room conditions with 30–50% relative humidity.
Bending tests were conducted after storage times of 0, 1, 4 and
24 h. The storage times were chosen as they are representative
for high volume engine casting production. The “0 h”-condition
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191
Fig. 7. Bending strength results for all tested cores over storage time.
Fig. 8. Illustration of the load curve settlement correction pre-treatment method
based upon the maximum stiffness tangent. Additionally the secant to the maximum
strength is indicated.
describes the handling strength of the sand cores, which is impor-
tant for their first manipulation after the core production. Testing
was performed 5 min after core production. The results after 1 and
24 h represent the core properties at the beginning and end of a
typical core usage in foundry practice.
Mean values and standard deviations were determined for a
minimum of three samples.
2.3. Three-point-bending-tests
The bending tests were performed on a 5 kN universal test-
ing machine (Zwick Roell, 2015) with a precise load-displacement
measurement. A load velocity of 5 mm/min and a data acquisition
rate of 10 Hz were set for the benchmarking.
The lower support distance l is 150 mm and the cross section
side length a is 22.7 mm. The bending stress calculation from the
measured load F [N] according to continuum mechanics is shown
by Eq. (1).
3l
=F× (1)
2a3
A three-point bending test sample put on the machine supports
according to the VDG-testing standard is shown in Fig. 5.
3. Results
The result section is structured to show the novel data acquisi-
tion and the subsequent evaluation method leading to evaluation
192 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196

Fig. 9. Bending stress curves as function of beam deflection after 0 h, 1 h, 4 h and 24 h storage time. The binder systems are: (a): Coldbox—CB; (b): Hotbox—HB; (c):
Warmbox-1—WB1; (d): Warmbox-2—WB2.

of the sample brittleness. A final sequence will show the influence
of load velocity on the properties.
3.1. Data acquisition and bending strength evaluation
A typical example of acquired load curves is shown in Fig. 6
(WB1 binder system after 4 h storage time). The acquired bending
strength results are visualized for all tested conditions in Fig. 7.
The different curve onsets in Fig. 6 are caused by settlement
effects at the start of loading. However, the inclining curve shape
is similar for all tested samples, and highly linear. Some irregular-
ities due to the granular nature of the sand cores can be observed.
Sample fracture occurs spontaneously after reaching the maximum
strength.
From Fig. 7 it can be seen, that HB- and WB-cores reach their
maximum bending strength at 1–4 h. After 24 h of storage, the
bending strength of WB1- and HB-cores is decreased by about 3%,
and for WB2-cores more significant, by 12%. The effect is generally
associated to humidity take-up after the samples are cooled down,
leading to softened bonds.
In contrast to that, CB cores show much lower bending strength
but a continuous increase over time due to ongoing polymerisation.

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 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196 193

Table 2
Bending strength average values and standard deviation.

t CB HB WB1 WB2

sB s s/sB sB s s/sB sB s s/sB sB s s/sB

[h] [0.01 MPa] [%] [0.01 MPa] [%] [0.01 MPa] [%] [0.01 MPa] [%]

0 182 18.9 10 275 16.5 6 532 32.6 6 326 22.3 7

1 265 9.7 4 434 41.6 10 703 27.7 4 435 30.6 7
4 278 24.2 9 462 27.6 6 732 25.4 3 421 12.0 3
24 372 22.6 6 446 21.7 5 705 42.1 6 385 17.9 5

However, after 24 h the strength of CB cores is only similar to that

of WB2. A summary of the bending strength results is presented by
Table 2, including absolute and relative standard deviations.
The typical standard deviation is 6% of the bending strength.
Testing 10 samples for CB and HB-cores at the 24 h storage condi-
tion could confirm this typical scatter.

3.2. Load curve stiffness and deformation

To permit further evaluations, a load curve pre-treatment to

eliminate the observed initial settling effects is required. Charac-
teristic curve points are the point of maximum strength Ps with
the condition dds
= 0, the point of maximum stiffness Pc with the
d2 
condition = 0and the curve end point Pmax . The load curve cor-
ds2
rection is conducted by shifting the curve with the intersection of
the maximum stiffness tangent through PC and the horizontal axis
through the origin (Fig. 8).
Typical pre-treated load-deformation curves for all binder sys- Fig. 10. Total beam deflection results for all tested cores over storage time.
tems with one representative example for each storage time
(0/1/4/24 h) are shown in Fig. 9(a–d).
Generally, the CB-system shows a pronounced curvature and
a lower stiffness compared to all other hot hardening systems.
The curves for CB also show a distinct time dependency of the
load-deflection curve shape up to 24 h storage time. All hot setting
systems show a rather linear loading characteristic. Their stiffness is
comparable and unchanged from 1 h storage time onward, despite
their different bending strength levels.
Quantitative curve parameters are deflection at maximum load
and the compliance (compare Fig. 8). In the initial load phase
the introduced work is elastically stored in the sample volume. It
is postulated that until PC is reached no fracture energy is con-
sumed. Based upon linear elastic continuum mechanical relations
the elastic modulus can be evaluated using the maximum stiffness
F
Cmax = s C according to Eq. (2):
C

b l3
E= = Cmax
ε 4a4
Fig. 10 shows beam deflection results at the maximum load level
(s ) and Fig. 11 the elastic modulus results.
Beam deflection from pre-treated load-curves can be used as a
first indicator for core deformability. For hot hardening systems the
deflection results are significantly below that of CB-cores, except
for WB1-cores, developing the highest strength.
Interestingly, the elastic moduli of the different HB- and WB-
systems are very similar to each other. After 1 h storage time E
is about 2.7 GPa. The CB-cores exhibit about 30–50% lower elastic
(2)
Fig. 11. Elastic modulus results for all tested cores over storage time.
3.3. Mechanical work evaluations
The totally introduced work WM into the testing setup is dis-
played by the area below the untreated load-displacement curve.
In Fig. 12 an exemplary pre-treated load curve is shown. The char-
acteristic points and the distinguishable elastic and plastic work
areas I, II, III and IV are illustrated.
Work area I (Wpl i : initial plastic work) defines the area above the

moduli. After 24 h the CB-samples obtained a level of 1.7 GPa. All
systems exhibited 20% lower values at the 0 h condition compared
to the 1 h results. This, combined with initially higher deforma-
bility underlines the importance of proper handling and storage
conditions for newly produced sand cores.
maximum stiffness tangent (P0 to PC ) and the load curve. This area is
dedicated to settlement effects of the sample towards the supports.
This work portion is not contributing to the sample fracture.
Work area II (Ws pl : plastic work until max. stress) defines the
area between the corrected load curve and the linear incline to P

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194 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196
Fig. 12. Graphical definition of the regions I–IV used for the mechanical work eval-
uation upon an exemplary bending test stress-deflection curve.
with the maximum stiffness slope. It represents the plastic work
portion until the maximum load.
Work area III (Wel : elastic work until max. stress) defines the
area below the maximum stiffness incline to P and thus describes
the elastic work stored in the sample volume at the maximum
stress. It depends on the geometric relations and the mechanical
properties. At fracture Wel is released. It is transformed to fracture
surface energy and into non-measured kinetic spring back energy
at the moment of sample fracture.
Work area IV (Wfpl : plastic work until final breakage) defines
the area below the load curve from P until sample breakage. This
work portion, if measurable at all, reflects the crack propagation
work. Typically for three point bending tests of rather brittle sand
cores an overcritical crack propagation can be observed, resulting
in very low values of Wfpl .
Table 3 gives the terms for the work-regions I–IV applied to
evaluate the acquired load-displacement curves.
The whole irreversible energy input is defined by the regions
II and IV: Wpl = Wpl + W f . The irreversible, or plastic, work acts
pl
on the highest stressed regions. Having discrete load-displacement
data points from a testing machine, WS has to be evaluated accord-
ing to Eq. (3):
FC × sC X
smax
i
WS = WM − Wpl = Wel + Wpl = + F1s
2 Both, BM and BW , are dimensionless and independent from the
s=sC
Fig. 13. Mechanical work of bending test samples. Initial and final plastic work and elastic work are separately indicated for each binder type over the storage time t.
Eq. (3) shows the importance of a precise maximum stiffness
point definition in order to obtain FC and sC properly.
In summary the entire fracture energy can only be evaluated
from continuously acquired load curves until all load bearing points
broke. For the given standard foundry sand core bending test setup
this was not achievable due to the observed non-stable fracturing.
Fig. 13 displays the results for the mechanical work WS of the
tested core binder systems split into the different work contribu-
tions.
It can be seen, that the CB-samples consume the highest plastic
work portions. They show a plastic deformability with a decreasing
trend over time. For HB and WB-bond cores the majority of work
is elastically stored in the sample. Moreover, a distinct final plas-
tic work portion is not visible. Compared to HB- and WB2-cores,
CB-cores present lower bending strength but exhibit higher work
consumption due to significantly higher plastic work portions. This
can be an advantage to avoid core breakage but also implies a higher
plastic deformation risk.
The absolute numbers reflect, that the WB1 samples take up
the highest total work. The second highest work consumption is
given by CB-cores, with their higher plastic work portions. HB and
WB2-samples show lower consumed work than CB-cores.
3.4. Sample brittleness evaluation
Two approaches, one based on load curve shape and the other
on the work evaluation, to describe sand core brittleness are pre-
sented.
For the load curve approach, stiffness and deformability are cor-
related. As illustrated in Fig. 8, the relation between the secant
stiffness Csec = Fs and the maximum stiffness Cmax leads to the
modulus based brittleness index BM (Eq. (4)):
Csec
BM = (4)
Cmax
For the work based evaluation, the elastic work (Region III in
Fig. 12) related to the total work defines the work-based elasticity
index BW (Eq. (5)):
Wel
BW = (5)
WS
(3)
absolute strength level. Results may be compared among similar
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 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196 195

Table 3
Mathematical definition of the mechanical work regions I–IV.
Z
smax
X
smax

Totally introduced work by the testing machine (WM ) WM = F (s) ds ≈ F1s

s=0
0

Region: I II III IV
Denomination: Wpli Ws pl Wel Wfpl
Z
sC
Zs Z
smax

Curve energy portion: F (s) ds F (s) ds – F (s) ds

0 sC s

FC · sC FC · sC Fmax2 Fmax 2
Added (+) or subtracted (−) elastic energy terms: − 2
+ 2
− 2Cmax
+ 2C max
–

WS

Table 4
Dependence of CB properties on the load velocity (low: 0.5 mm/min and high: 50 mm/min). Values are given as percentage of the 5 mm/min – reference results. Values for
0, 1 and 24 h storage time were evaluated for a minimum of 5 samples per data point.

Results in [%] of 0.5 mm/min – values bending strength deflection elastic modulus total work at mod. based br. work based br.
fracture index index

Load vel.

Storage time low high low high low high low high low high low high

0h 78 114 93 109 97 116 77 113 99 112 102 115

1h 80 112 90 90 95 110 75 108 94 111 92 109
24 h 83 100 87 91 100 107 76 99 97 106 97 96

Fig. 14. Modulus based brittleness index results for all tested cores over storage Fig. 15. Energy based brittleness index results for all tested cores over storage time.
time.

bending test setups only, because sample stiffness and elastic work
are size dependent parameters.
Generally, the more a load curve is bowed, the lower is the brit-
tleness index. For a completely linear load curve it would reach
unity. Results for BM are shown in Fig. 14 and for BW in Fig. 15.
The work based brittleness indices are slightly lower than the
modulus based ones. high brittleness indices of above 0.85 are given
for HB- and WB-cores. The most brittle system from both evalu-
ations is the WB2-system. The bent curve shape and the higher
plastic work fraction lead to lower brittleness indices for the CB-
system. Especially at the 0 h-condition the values are below 0.5,
giving evidence for a high deformability of those cores. Practically
the need of a careful core manipulation to avoid deformations is
obvious also from these evaluations.
f
For CB-cores the final plastic work portion Wpl (Fig. 13) con-
tributes significantly to WS. The work based brittleness indices are
generally below the modulus based ones, more distinct for the
CB-cores than for the hot hardened core systems. Investigating
materials with some plasticity, the work based approach should
be chosen, to include the final curve section also into the evalu-
ation. The modulus based evaluation reflects curve relations until
the maximum strength level only.
3.5. Influence of load velocity
Due to their high plasticity and time dependency of the results,
CB cores have been chosen to study the influence of load velocity.
Load rates of 0.5–5 and 50 mm/min have been applied. In Table 4
the results are shown in relation to 0.5 mm/min load velocity, which
was constant for the previously shown results.
For the low load velocity of 0.5 mm/min, resulting in about
1 min bending test time, strength and total work are significantly
decreased by 20–25% related to the nominal load velocity of

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 196 B.J. Stauder et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 237 (2016) 188–196
5 mm/min. Deflection is decreased by about 10%. However, the elas-
tic modulus and the brittleness indices are close to the reference
values.
For the high load velocity of 50 mm/min, resulting in a testing
time below 1 s, mean values of bending strength, elastic modulus,
work of fracture and the brittleness are above 100% and average
deflection is slightly decreased.
Summarized, very low load velocities permit plastic deforma-
tion over time of binder bridges and thereby permits a degree of
plasticity in sand cores. This leads to decreased strength and work
of fracture.
Such viscous effects are expected to have less effect for more
brittle sand cores with fully hardened Hotbox and Warmbox binder
systems.
4. Conclusions
The here presented study has demonstrated the potential to sig-
nificantly enhance the evaluation of standard foundry sand core
bending tests. Benchmarking of Coldbox-, Hotbox- and Warmbox
bonded sand cores proved the successful application of this con-
cept.
– Bending strength and elastic modulus can be directly evaluated
from non-treated load curves.
– A load curve pre-treatment is essential to eliminate initial set-
tling effects of the samples towards the testing supports prior to
further analyses in particular for soft bonded granular materials
like sand cores.
– Elastic and plastic mechanical work and deflection can be evalu-
ated from pre-treated load curves.
– Brittleness has been expressed by a modulus based- and a work
based concept. Both deliver comparable relationships.
– For materials with higher plasticity the work based approach
should be preferably applied.
– At low load rates strength and deformability may be reduced due
to visco-plastic effects.
Limitations of the concept are given by the overcritical sample
fracture of samples at bending test setups according to foundry
standards, promoting instable crack propagation. Therefore it is
proposed to investigate the specific work of fracture, e.g. by wedge
split tests as developed by (Harmuth and Tschegg, 1997). This has
been proven as a suitable concept to characterize heterogeneous
materials like refractory bricks or concrete samples, due to an
improved ratio of fracture surface to sample volume.
Future research should address sand core properties during the
casting process, investigating the impact of thermal exposure and
the resulting high temperature properties. Moreover, focus should
also be put on inorganically bonded cores. These require a more
complex process control while giving environmental and work haz-
ard benefits.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Austrian Research Promotion Agency for
supporting this work within projects FFG 844552 and FFG 849486.
We also acknowledge the given industrial partner contributions
by company Nemak supporting with valuable process information
and the Austrian Foundry Research Institute for applying new mea-
surement approaches, which highly upgraded the present work
content.
Page 73
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